Niels Provos

Inifite Fluidity with Stable Diffusion

nospam@example.com (Niels Provos) — Fri, 16 Sep 2022 19:52:00 +0000

Infinite Fluidity shows an almost seamless transition between different concepts. Where does one concept end and where does a new one start? Using stable diffusion to illustrate and to stimulate reflection.

To make an animation video via stable diffusion, I interpolate between different prompt embeddings using spherical linear interpolation (slerp). Carefully selected interpolation steps lead to a very smooth transition between concepts.

Type-On Typewriter Animation in Nuke

nospam@example.com (Niels Provos) — Tue, 02 Aug 2022 21:03:00 +0000

Users of AfterEffects are used to a plethora of presets for text animation. Unfortunately, text animation in Nuke is significantly limited in that the contents of the text field cannot be easily animated. I was working on producing a music video in which type-on text shows the lyrics in time with the music and ran into the limitation. I was not willing to mask letters individually using roto tools and instead decided to write a small python program that generates the animation in side of Nuke.

The basic idea was to write a Python script that generates successive text nodes to spell out the lyrics in time and the animation between text nodes was done via a switch node. With the Python script, generating the timing for the lyrics was then as simple as specifying the start frame and the typing speed:

hookone = [
[0, "<"],
[30, "Better Patch Your Network"],
[130, "Better Patch Your Network"],
[200, "Eh Eh Better Patch Your Network"],
[320, "Better Patch Your Network"],
[385, "Eh Eh Eh Better Patch Your"]
]

createTypeOn('HOOK1fxd2', hookone, speed=1)

One the text can be rendered all of Nuke's capabilities can be applied easily such as projecting the text onto a 3D card and animating its position.

You can see the final result in this fun music video of my new EDM track: Patch Your Network

You can download my Python script and use it yourself. Enjoy!

Activ8te: Patch Your Network (feat. AENDZI) (Electronic Music Production)

nospam@example.com (Niels Provos) — Tue, 02 Aug 2022 04:55:00 +0000

The second installment in the cybersecurity meets EDM series: Activ8te x AENDZI: Patch Your Network. This time we are covering topics ranging from network security to threat detection. You can listen to more tracks on bandcamp. See if you can find all the easter eggs in the video.

Activ8te: Teardrop Falling (feat. AENDZI)

nospam@example.com (Niels Provos) — Mon, 30 May 2022 01:04:00 +0000

Teardrop Falling (feat. AENDZI) by Activ8te

Under the umbrella of the Cyber-House Collective, Activ8te has teamed up with a group of security researchers and indie artists like AENDZI to release “Teardrop Falling,” a song about Distributed Denial of Service and censorship. Its deep house vibes and inspiring vocals talk about how the Internet is being censored in many countries, but more importantly, how DDoS attacks are also becoming a popular way to censor the Internet. Teardrop is a reference to an iconic denial of service attack and the track itself is inspired by recent events in the Ukraine. It also connects to many years of censorship by repressive governments, such as Russia and China. “Teardrop Falling” is the first of a series of tracks about cybersecurity with the hope that it will help to stimulate interest in learning more about these topics. With a release date of May 29th, the artists are hoping to produce several more security themed tracks before the famous hacker conference DefCon in August.

“My dream is to bring a new generation into the field of security and have our music inspire a more secure Internet for everyone,” says Activ8te.

You can also listen to it here.

Credits
Producer: Jake Lizzio, Activ8te
Lyrics: Elie Burzstein, Jake Lizzio, Activ8te
Vocals: AENDZI

Forging a Woodworking Holdfast

nospam@example.com (Niels Provos) — Tue, 26 Apr 2022 14:38:00 +0000

I made these for a woodworking friend and thought I would share the process of forging a holdfast with you. You'll even get to see a contrived example at the end where the leverage of cutting a piece of wood at the end requires two holdfasts to secure the work piece. Enjoy.

Activ8te: What does it mean to be happy? (Electronic Music Production: Dubstep)

nospam@example.com (Niels Provos) — Sun, 10 Apr 2022 21:38:00 +0000

Activ8te · What does it mean to be happy?

In an exploration of dubstep, I recently produced "What does it mean to be happy?". It combines beautiful female vocals with aggressive dubstep drops. I used this track as musical complement for a short management article on burnout.

If you enjoy this music and want to see more of my Activ8te releases, check out my music on bandcamp. Enjoy listening to the track.